Losing It All
by R5rulezFICS
Summary: One of the R5 boys is about to get sick. Like, deathly sick. And his friends and family are powerless to stop it, only being able to stand by and watch as he falls apart.
1. The Flu

**Guess who's back, bitch! Yeah, yeah, if you even remember who I am. I wrote **_**Slowly Declining, **_**and I think that's what I'm best known for. I'm not sure if I ever stated my name in the past, but I go by Alex now, and I hope that can be respected. If you remember me, you know that the last anyone really heard of me was when a friend posted a chapter on **_**Fourteen Days, **_**stating that I had made a suicide attempt. I asked her to delete all of my stories, since they had been written during a fairly bad time in my life. This was over a year ago, and I've been doing a lot better. I hope to get back into writing, since it was one of the few things that brought me joy.**

**Thank you so much for reading this right now, and I would love to hear from you, either by review or PM. I missed this community, and I'm glad to be back. **

**This new story is going to be somewhat of a flashback to my first and most popular story, **_**Slowly Declining. **_**I've grown quite a bit as a writer, and I hope that this is better done than my previous. It's not going to be the exact same storyline though, so beware of plot twists.**

**I hope you enjoy, and I'd love to hear from you soon. Without further ado, this is **_**Losing It All. **_

"Dude, are you dying?"

Rocky laughed slightly, his older brother Riker holding back his hair as he vomited. Between heaves, he responded. "I'm pregnant."

No, just the flu. Rocky thinks both he and Ross picked it up at their last show. They were in Maine...or maybe it was Washington. He's not sure. It doesn't matter anyway, when you're puking your guts out.

Ross had it much better than him, though. He'd puked like, once. Rocky's been throwing up almost constantly for two days. He's starving, but can't keep anything down, not even chicken broth. Their mom wanted to take Rocky to the doctor, since he's getting so dehydrated. But of course, like the man he is, he insisted that he could tough it out. Typical.

They had a show to play in just a couple of hours, and Riker was beginning to think they were going to have to call it off. That is unless the fans want to be puked on. He's not really getting anything up, anyway. It's mostly just stomach acid. "Rocky, I don't think you should play-"

"No, I'm fine." Rocky groaned, attempting to stand up. He wasn't topside for more than a few seconds before he leaned back over the toilet, spilling bile into the bowl. Tears leaked out of the guitarists eyes from lack of oxygen, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand.

"Okay, yep, we're cancelling. Mom! Rocky can't play the show!" Riker yelled despite his younger brother's protests. Their mom appeared in the doorway of the tour bus bathroom, and looked on worriedly at her son.

"I'll call the manager." She said finally, and turned to leave. Rocky protested, yelling as loud as his hoarse throat would allow.

"Mom, I'm fine. I'll be ready to play in just a m-" He was cut off by his stomach deciding to upchuck clear liquid all over the front of Riker's shirt. His older brother laughed, obviously grossed out.

"Dude!" Riker said, wiping at the front of his shirt with a piece of toilet paper. "You can't play, you'll soak everyone in the front row!" Their mom appeared in the door again, one hand holding the phone to her ear, the other making a motion at Riker.

"Shirt." She said. Riker slipped off his tee, and tossed it at her. She grabbed it out of the air, and nodded at the two of them, before walking away. Rocky whined disappointedly.

"You need the rest, dude. Seriously." Riker said, rubbing his younger brother's back. Rocky wiped at the sweat on his forehead, leaning against the bathroom wall. It seemed as if his puking had subsided, at least for the moment. His throat burned like fire, and he'd been sitting on his knees so long his legs had gone numb.

"Yeah, I guess. I just-" He paused to cough. "I just don't want to let the fans down." He said, closing his eyes, clearly exhausted. Riker patted his shoulder and stood up, offering his younger brother a hand.

"C'mon. Let's get you to bed." Riker said. Rocky gripped his hand, and was pulled to a standing position. He swayed on his feet, his vision blurring momentarily as all of the blood rushed back to his legs. Riker walked him carefully to the bunks. "You can sleep in mine. I don't want you to have to climb the ladder."

"Thanks." Rocky said as he gingerly sat on the edge of his brother's bunk. Riker helped him swing his legs onto the mattress, and pulled the blankets over his body. Rocky did have a fever, but he said that his hands and feet were freezing, so he wanted blankets anyway.

After Rocky was all settled in, Riker stood up, looking down at his sick brother. "Do you want some water, or tea maybe?" He asked. Rocky must have been really dehydrated, what with all the puking. His younger brother nodded.

Riker took the five steps it took to get into the kitchen, and filled up a glass of ice water. He brought it back, and passed it into Rocky's shaking hands. He downed it in a heartbeat, and looked thankfully at Riker as he went to refill it.

Ross poked his head out of his bunk. "We're not playing?" He asked, his throat dry and hoarse, his face flushed from the fever. Riker nodded.

"Yeah. You can go back to bed." He responded, handing Rocky his second glass of water. Ross laid back down, sighing thankfully.

Rocky isn't the star of this show. Ross had been sick too, just not as bad. The only reason he hasn't been puking a ton is because he doesn't keep trying to eat. He threw up one dinner, and that was all he needed to take a break from food for awhile. His muscles were achy, he felt light headed and dizzy, and he had a fever of 102 degrees. He was in no condition to be playing a show, neither was Rocky.

Riker went back into the kitchen, and got Ross a glass of water too. His younger brother thanked him, to which he only nodded. "Just don't get me sick." He joked.

Without a show to play, Riker wasn't sure what to do. So, he just sat himself down on the couch and pulled the laptop onto his legs. Opening up YouTube, he wa ready to fall asleep to stupid cat Vine compilations.

**Okay, honest opinions? Please? I'm not that sure of myself anymore, and I'd love for someone to say hi, welcome me back, whatever. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll post the next one as soon as someone tells me to, pretty much. Uh, byeeeee!**


	2. More Serious Than First Expected

**Hey so HOLY SHIT the queen of Rosslington remembers me! Thanks to everyone who followed/favorited and all of that other stuff. Please leave a review for this chapter, it really helps me stay inspired and confident, and it doesn't take that long. I know, I'm being a desperate bitcch, but it just makes me so happy to see a review, much more so than it probably should, but oh well. **

**Either way, I hope you enjoy the story! Now it's time for CHAPTER 2!**

Rocky had a fitful night's sleep.

He felt as if he was drowning in his bedsheets, never fully awake. He thought it had been hours, when in reality only minutes had passed. Agonizingly, the time passed, and he slept through the night. He came to, Riker's hand on his face, a flashlight shining in his eyes. "Rocky!" His older brother yelled, slapping the side of his face lightly. His eyes shot open, and he spasmed, falling straight off the side of the bed.

"What?" He panted, his heart pounding in his ears. His clothes were soaked through with sweat, and more was coming down in drops off his chin. He felt as if he had just been sprayed with a hose. He shut his eyes again, letting his head fall back onto the cheap carpet floor in their tour bus. Riker slapped his face again, but he was too tired to open his eyes.

He heard his mom's voice. "We need to take him to the hospital."

Rocky sputtered, sitting up rapidly. "I'm up!" He yelled, staring at the surprised faces of his family. He wasn't up for long though, as after shooting a stupid grin to his older brother, he got dizzy and fell to the ground again. Hitting his head on the bunk on the way down didn't help either, and he was knocked unconscious.

"The taxi's here." Stormie said, looking out of the bus window. Riker picked him up bridal style, and tried to ignore the way Rocky's clothes were leaving soaking wet spots on his front as he carried him out of the bus.

Riker pushed his younger brother into the taxi, along with himself and Ross. "I'll get there, just have the two of them checked." Stormie said. Riker nodded, and pulled a groggy Ross closer to him as he shut the door. He glanced at the taxi driver.

"Nearest Emergency room." Riker said, breathless. As the car took off, he assessed the situation. Rocky was out cold, sweating buckets, completely oblivious to his 105 degree temperature. If that fever raises one degree, it would start to _kill his brain, _and he has no idea. Ross's temperature went from 102 to 103, and is continuing to slowly rise. He could be just like Rocky in a matter of minutes.

Thankfully, the nearest emergency room was only three minutes away from the lot they had parked their bus in, and before he knew it, Riker was dragging his two, sweat soaked little brothers in the front entrance of the hospital.

People with stretchers met him in the middle, and both Rocky and Ross were pulled onto them. Riker couldn't get another word in before they were wheeled away. Did they really look that bad? That close to death?

"Relax." Riker heard the word from somewhere, and as his lungs heaved, desperate to get enough oxygen to his overworked heart, he felt a hand on his back. "Relax." He looked up to see a young woman looking at him sympathetically. That's about the time he realized he had fallen to his knees in all his fear. Riker stood, shaky on his feet, knees feeling like they were going to buckle at any moment. "Come sit down." She said, and gently pushed him in the direction of the waiting room chairs.

He sat down, her hand still steady on his arm. "Thank you." He said finally, rubbing his forehead to feel a light sheen of sweat there. She nodded silently, sitting down beside him with a clipboard in her hands. Oh. She works here.

"Would you mind telling me why you brought them in? It could help us to decide what to do next." She asked, clicking her pen.

"Yeah. Uh, really bad fevers." Riker responded. "One of them…well, the one with the brown hair, his name's Rocky. He had a 105 degree temperature. The other one, Ross, had a 103 degree temperature and rising. I just thought...Rocky wouldn't wake up, so...they both have the flu..both are puking up everything, so…"

"Okay." She responded, stopping him in the middle of an unfinished thought. "That's all I need. Likely thing is, both of them will be just fine. We'll get them hooked up to an IV, try to restore moisture lost from vomiting and inject antibiotics to fight the influenza. Hopefully we can get them conscious and prepped to go back home before night falls."

"Okay…" Riker responded, finally able to take an entire breath. "They're going to be fine." He repeated, making sure he heard her correctly.

"Yes. If it's nothing more than the flu, both of them will be home by tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest. Can I ask your relationship toward the both of them?" She asked, still scribbling on her clipboard.

"Uh, I'm their brother." Riker responded, suddenly noticing the exhaustion in his bones. She nodded.

"All right. I'll send for you once they're stable." She said, standing up. "Oh, and if you need, water's over there." She pointed to a corner where the watercooler was. Riker nodded, and without another word, she walked away.

Riker closed his eyes, dropping his head into his hands. He took deep breaths, trying to relax, trying to tell himself that things were going to be fine. Sure, that lady had said they would both be okay, but that's only part of the problem.

There seems to be a gene in their family that's messed up. Everyone has Iatrophobia, which, to put it simply, is the fear of doctors. Just sitting in the waiting room was edging Riker towards a panic attack. When Ross or Rocky come to, they're going to rip out their IV's, and punch someone. They'll make a run for it.

Riker half expected to see one of them come running back into the waiting room, bolting for the door, at any moment. Hopefully, they're sedated. And hopefully, they're still out of it by the time it's time to take them home.

**Thoughts? Oh, and I had this really unpopular (like two people read it and it had like three chapters) story called **_**Turn Your Back **_**and I was thinking of redoing it. Would you peoplez like that, or should I just focus on this one for now?**

**Please review! I'll love you forever (and you get awesome points so…)**

**Have a wonderful day! Byeeeeee!**


	3. Rocky Goes Home

**Yo, so, at the time of me writing this, only chapter one was posted. I'm having a writing binge right now, so don't judge me. I could probably do this in the end, right before I post it, but I'll probably forget it, so, anything you put on the second chapter, I have no clue about. I love writing again, I missed it a lot, and I'm going crazy preparing these chapters so I never miss a day because I'm lazy. **

**Without further ado, here is chapter 3!**

Riker was tapping incessantly, his teeth grinding as he waited, alongside his mom, dad, Rydel and Ryland for them to wake up. It wasn't the fear of whether or not they would wake up that was making him nervous, it was what they would do once they did open their eyes.

Riker screamed internally as a nurse walked in with a needle, and flinched as she walked by him. She pressed the needle into Rocky's IV, and took another one out of her pocket to do the same with Ross's. "Antibiotics." She said plainly. "They'll get better much faster this way."

Riker made momentary eye contact with his mom, his leg still bouncing at an annoying pace. She put her arm around him, and pulled him into her embrace. He tried to slow his breathing, tried to just calm down, but being in here made him want to freak.

**Riker's P.O.V**

I barely saw his eyes open before he shot up. I went to kneel beside him, knowing how this would go if I didn't. I grabbed his hands. "You're fine, Rocky." I said. I had to push aside my own fear, had to be there for my brother. Rocky whined, and his eyes shot around. He was looking for the best way out. I turned to the nurse. "He's going to flip out here in a second, just a warning."

As a last precautionary measure, I wrapped one hand around his upper arm, and placed the other over the IV, so he wouldn't rip it out of his skin if he tried to run. The nurse pressed a button on her pager, and Rocky turned to me, his eyes pleading. "Relax." I said to him. I didn't know what else to do.

"Riker, please..!" Rocky yelled, trying to jerk his arm free.

"Rocky, I know. Goddammit, I want to run too. You have to stay put though, just for now. We'll be out of here in no time." I said, not believing a single word that came out of my own mouth. It would seem like forever to him, hell, a few hours had felt like years to me. "Just hold tight. Let's talk to the nurse."

It was too late for him to run, anyway. Two doctors had entered the room, holding up post by the door. The nurse spoke up. "We just need to talk antibiotics for these two, and then they're free to go." She said gently, catching on to our phobia at this point. "When Ross wakes up, that is."

"Can we please do this for Rocky now, and get him out of here? One at a time would be much easier." I asked, knowing that I could not keep myself calm, as well as Ross and Rocky all at once. He gripped my hand tight, and I watched tears leave his eyes.

"I suppose. You live with him?" The nurse asked. I nodded, rubbing the back of Rocky's hand with my thumb. I could hear my heart beating in my chest, but was trying so hard not to lose it. If I started running, so would Rocky. I had to hold it together. "Okay, he's going to be on 30mg of amoxicillin, once a day. Have him take it in the morning, with breakfast." She said, handing me a prescription, prewritten by the doctor that had been in here earlier. "Make sure he's drinking lots of water, and if his temperature exceeds 100 degrees again, bring him in right away. This might not be such an easy fix next time."

I nodded. "Can we get him out of here now?" I asked hurriedly. Ross had been stirring for a few minutes now, and he had always been much more afraid than Rocky and me.

"What's your rush?" The nurse asked, setting down the pen she had been messing with. I sighed. I really didn't like telling people, but maybe the perk of having a diagnosed phobia would help in this situation.

"We've all got diagnosed Iatrophobia. Rocky's and mine are manageable, but Ross gets really out of control. I want to get Rocky out so I can deal with Ross without you having to restrain him." I said, my face turning pink from embarrassment.

The nurse nodded in understanding. "All right, I think that can be done. He'll have to be taken out in a wheelchair, because most every hospital has a policy against patients just walking out. I'll call one down for him, and...I'm assuming you want to stay in case Ross wakes up, right?" I nodded. "Okay, we'll have another nurse take him out to...a taxi, if I remember correctly. You didn't come in a car, so we'll also have to wait for the taxi. For now, we can get him out of this room and back down in the main lobby, if that would be more comfortable for him." I looked at Rocky, who nodded quickly.

"Yeah. Down in the lobby would be great." I said, squeezing Rocky's hand to let him know I'm here. She nodded, spun around in her chair, and picked up a phone. I turned back to my brother, looking at his teary eyes and red face. He'd been holding his breath so he wouldn't scream. "The lobby's a lot better, Rock. I was down there for a few hours waiting to hear news on you guys. It'll be fine down there, okay? Just look out the window, look for a taxi. That's your ticket out of here. Ross may or may not be awake by that time, so you might go home alone. Just get yourself a drink, maybe some food if you think you can handle it, and just go to bed. Okay?"

I watched my little brother take sputtering breaths, too afraid to fill his lungs completely, risking the possibility of a loud scream that would likely trigger a struggle, sedation, restraining, and ultimately a longer stay. "You're fine, okay? Just breathe." I looked over at my mom. "Mom, you should go with him. Ryland and Rydel too. Dad and I will stay, make sure Ross gets out all right." I saw all of them nod, and Rocky seemed to relax a little.

A nurse appeared in the doorway, pushing a wheelchair in front of her. Rocky jumped to get up, but I pushed him back down with both hands on his chest. "Hang on, they've gotta take that IV out first." I said, and watched his eyes light up with fear. The nurse that had given us the prescription stood up, and walked over beside us. I quickly switched which side of the bed I was on, and grabbed ahold of Rocky's chin, turning him to face me. "It'll only take two seconds. Just look at me, and I'll tell you when it's over."

Rocky was petrified. He had began to shake again, and he wasn't breathing hardly at all. I watched, a sick feeling beginning in my stomach, as the nurse took ahold of the small needle encased in plastic and stuck to his arm with cheap medical tape. She pulled off the tape, removed the connector tube from the IV, and pinched the plastic end gently. Holding a piece of gauze over the needle, she quickly pulled it out, immediately pushing down on the skin with the gauze and covering that with two pieces of fresh tape. "Done." I said to Rocky, fighting the bile rising in my throat.

He pushed me off of him, and stood up quickly, swaying from dizziness. I took ahold of his arm, and walked him over to where the nurse with the wheelchair was waiting. Gently, I lowered him down into the chair, and softly gripped his shoulder one more time before standing up. Mom and my other _not _unconscious siblings stood, and were at my side in seconds. Mom pulled my head down, and kissed my forehead.

"Be good." She said. "See you when you get home with Ross." She said. I stood in the doorway, watching as the majority of my family walked in the exact direction every bone in my body was telling me to run. Rocky was easy. Ross will fight, and scream, and panic. When he panics, there's a good chance I will too. I was left only with my sick brother, and my dad. And I was freaking out.

**I bet, if you remember me, you remember that I always give at least one person in the story a fear of doctors. Wanna know why? It's because I have Iatraphobia, and it's something I know a whole lot about, so it's easy for me to write. It's also so I can relate to my characters, making me more motivated to write. **

**I hope you enjoyed. Please leave a review if you did, I'd love to hear from you. Seriously, it makes my day. Okay now, byeeeeeee!**


	4. Went Better Than Expected

**I'm still writing this before I've even put up the second chapter. I just keep having ideas. At least when I get super depressed and don't feel up to putting in the mental effort it takes to write, you guys won't go completely without an update. I'm sorry if I miss a day at any point, I really do feel terrible when that happens because you all are so nice to me and I'm afraid I'm not returning the favor.**

**Yeah, blah blah, Alex has feelings. Just read the chapter, you adorable little shits. **

**Riker's P.O.V**

Ross stirred in his bed, and I moved to stand beside him. I couldn't risk him getting up. He'd never stop fighting. The two doctors that were guarding the door came and stood on the opposite side of him. We were all waiting, waiting for what I knew was coming, which they had no idea how bad it would be.

But damn, isn't Ross smart. I forgot all about that little trick he can pull. He wakes up, and then opens his eyes, but he has to choose to do so. Who knows how long he'd really been awake by the time he suddenly pushed his body off the side of the bed by my feet, the IV torn out of his arm and a trail of blood making its way to the floor in little crimson droplets.

I reached for him, but not before he had jumped to his feet and tried to run. I pulled back on his shoulders roughly, bringing him crashing to the ground. I sat on his stomach, making sure he couldn't move before I looked up at the startled nurse. "Prescription."

She quickly handed a piece of paper to me. "For him, 20mg of amoxicillin should be enough." She said. "I'll call down another wheelchair for him." One doctor left, and the other held up post by the open door.

Satisfied, I turned my attention to my little brother. I grabbed both his hands and held them tight. "You're leaving, that's it, okay? You slept through everything, and even ripped the IV out of your arm yourself. A taxi's on its way, and a nurse is going to come down here to wheel you out. You don't have to stay anymore- fuck Ross, breathe!"

His face was turning bright red, and he was frozen with fear. "I don't care if you have to scream, oxygen is important. So breathe!" I yelled again, making sure to keep my weight distributed on my legs, which were planted on the ground, and not on Ross's chest, further prohibiting him from breathing.

He finally opened his mouth, letting out a high pitched cry, tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes. Just as he did this, the nurse alerted me of the girl in the doorway with a wheelchair. "Ross." I said, bringing my voice down low. "I need you to get into that chair, okay? You're leaving this place, right now, just so long as you can hold it together until we get you in the taxi."

Contrary to his previous behavior, Ross started breathing heavy, in fast pants, and he began to push at me to get me off. There was nothing calm about the way he was handling himself right then, so I didn't move. "Relax." I told him, massaging his shoulders. "No needles, no scans, no tests, no questions, nothing. I promise. I'll be with you all the way, all right?"

He whimpered in fear, trying to curl into himself as he broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. "I….I can't!" He cried. I stepped off him, kneeling beside him as he curled up into a ball, head between his knees. I rubbed his back, my nails scratching slightly, just how he had liked me to do when we were kids, and he was sick or upset.

"You'll be fine, Ross. I've got you. Keep your eyes closed, okay? Try to breathe." I said, wrapping my arms around him to lift him up. He resisted at first. "I'm getting you out of here. I'm taking you somewhere safe." It was then that he let go of his will to fight. I picked him up bridal style, and gently set him down into the wheelchair. He followed my instructions and kept his eyes closed, but reached out blindly to take ahold of my hands.

He gripped my fingers just a little too tight as we walked toward the main lobby. I thought he was going to freak when we went in the elevator, but luckily, he didn't even open his eyes. Another moment and we were in the lobby. I saw the rest of my family sitting there, still waiting for a taxi for Rocky. We joined them, and I smiled weakly at Rocky. "Told you it's better in here." I said.

"Mom, how did you even get here?" I asked. Ross was still holding onto me, and was beginning to cut off circulation in my fingers. Funny thing is, I didn't care. My brother was hurting, so I didn't give one single flying fuck about my hand.

"I took another taxi. Looks like we'll be staying here for a few days though, so we might as well get a hotel room. I should probably also rent a car." Mom responded, just as the taxi pulled up. "Why don't you take both the boys, Riker, and, we'll wait for the next one."

"Okay." I responded. I felt bad about stranding them there, but mom did have a point. Nobody else can seem to figure out Rocky and Ross. Their behavior patterns are weird.

"Go ahead and book us for the nicest hotel rooms for the next week. I want to make sure they're completely healthy before we get back on the road." Mom said. "I'll ask Mark to rent us a car so we don't have to keep taking taxi's."

"Okay." I said as I opened the door so the nurses could wheel them out to the taxi. I made sure they didn't fall in the process of switching from sitting to standing to sitting again in a matter of seconds and before I knew it, we were headed to what the driver had said were the nicest hotels in the whole city.

I got our family (and Ratliff, duh) two suites and one deluxe room to share. Rocky, Ross and I all are in one suite. I made it this way just so I could take care of them, make sure they don't infect mom, dad, Rydel, Ratliff or Ryland with this horrible flu.

**So, did you like it? It felt rushed to me, but I don't know. I've been told I'm too critical of myself sometimes. Whatever. **

**Please review! You'll get an imaginary baby llama just for telling me your thoughts! Isn't that a great deal? No but seriously, if you're ever having trouble coming up with reasons to smile, think about parading your pet llama around the school, telling all the bullies "FUCK YOU NO YOU CANT PET IT". I'm sorry. I should probably just go to bed.**

**Sleep is for the weak.**

**HAHAHA no but dude just review the darn thing. I love you. Thank you. You look super pretty today. You're not fat, I promise. No, no, that mirror is a lying sonofabitch that will never show you what other people **_**really **_**see. **

**Okay, goodnight everyone, or good morning, or afternoon, or whenever you're reading this. Byeeeee!**


	5. Settling In

**I'm really sorry that this took so long! I was grounded because all of my grades are shit, and then I got sick, and I don't know, my depression seems to be getting worse again. But I still love to see your guys' comments, so I made myself sit down and write this. It's not the longest thing, but it works. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you don't hate me for taking so long to upload. I'm sorry, fuck, now I'm rambling.**

**Read the damn story before I talk your ear off. **

**Riker's P.O.V**

The hotels were nice. They were high up, giving us the ability to look over the city, sitting on the balcony to relax. I had gotten Ross and Rocky to bed, and cleaned up the blood on Ross's arm. Both of them had passed out within seconds, and I wanted to do the same, but I had to make sure they stayed asleep. If they woke up with nightmares, I needed to be awake too.

I decided it would be a good idea to take a shower. I smelled like sweat, most of it not mine, and my muscles were still so high strung from sitting in that emergency room. Standing up from the comfortable balcony chair, I made my way back inside. Ross and Rocky were both sound asleep. I had tried to put them in separate beds, but they had refused to let go of eachother, so they were currently sharing a king sized bed. It was kind of ridiculous looking, but if it made them happy, it didn't matter.

I dug through the luggage that we had pulled off the bus, and got myself a gray longsleeve shirt and a pair of loose black sweatpants. Turning back around, I headed into the spacious bathroom, much different to the one on the bus. I thoroughly enjoyed my shower, spending a little less than an hour under the warm water. The shampoo provided by the hotel smelled of strawberries, and it felt strange washing my hair with something resembling a fruit.

By the time I did actually get out, Rocky was in the kitchen getting food. I stared at him while drying my hair with a towel. "Just don't puke on me. Again." I said jokingly. He spun around, clearly not have noticed I was there. He laughed off his surprise, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed lightly.

"Uh, y-yeah I won't…" He stammered, before ducking his head down as he hunted for food. I rolled my eyes, walking towards him and putting a cautious hand on his shoulder. He always does this. He's always embarrassed when he doesn't need to be.

"Rocky-" I started, but he cut me off, turning away from me to violently open the fridge to see what mom had bought for our stay.

"Riker, I really don't want to talk about it. Can we just forget about it?" He said rudely, obviously hoping that his angry approach would scare me off. It didn't work.

"You don't have to be-"

"I said forget about it!" He yelled, spinning on his heels to push me away from him, my hand disconnecting from his shoulder. He quickly left the room, giving up on his quest for food. I breathed out heavily, rubbing my forehead. He's impossible to talk to sometimes. He's embarrassed about the way he acted at the emergency room, and he really doesn't need to be. The whole family understands, but he'd still rather pretend it doesn't exist.

I heard Ross groan from the bedroom, and turned my attention to him, heading that direction. He was tossing under the blankets, whimpering and kicking his legs. Nightmares. I lifted up the covers and slid in next to him, trying to avoid being kicked as I did so. I reached out blindly under the blankets to grasp at his shoulders, pulling him into a tense embrace. Step one to dealing with nightmares for Ross. Get him still.

Step two. Quiet him down. After wrapping my legs around him to keep him immobilized, I ran one hand through his sweaty hair, and scratched the other down his back. It's hard to dream of scary things when the physical sensations are nothing but comforting. It only took a minute for the struggling and whining to stop, at which point it was time for step three. Wake him up, and try not to get punched. Ross's emotions tend to leave dreams for a short period of time after he wakes up, so some violence was expected. "Rocky!" I called. I was going to need a little assistance to assure that I wasn't going to end up with a bloody nose.

My brother reluctantly came into the room, and stood on the other side of the bed, gripping Ross's arms and holding them behind his back. "Ross." I said carefully. "Wake up, dude. You're dreaming." I tapped his face lightly with my fingers, and his eyes shot open, yelling as he started kicking again. He'd managed to wrestle one of his arms free, and took a blind swing, smashing into my jaw with a force that would most certainly bruise. Rocky pulled him back, almost off the bed, and turned him on his back to pin him to the mattress.

Another few seconds and he realized who we were, where he was, and what he had just done. Blood had started to run from my nose, and once it was safe to let go of Ross, Rocky was handing me tissues. Ross started apologizing profusely, even after I told him I was fine, it didn't matter, it was just a nosebleed.

I sat down, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Rocky handed me some more tissues, and scooted the trash can closer to me. I tossed the blood stained tissues in the trash, and started on the new ones, trying to pinch my nose so it stopped bleeding, but it hurt. A headache was beginning to set in, and Ross was just looking on guiltily as Rocky got me an ice pack. Once the bleeding had mostly stopped, I took a couple of ibuprofen, and Rocky helped me to bed.

It was pretty late by that point, so Mom, Dad, Rydel, Ellington and Ryland came in to say good night. They didn't even question the bloody nose. They knew what had happened, and Ross looked sheepishly at me from his bed across the room. With the lights turned out, my headache started to fade, and my eyes began to close from the beautiful idea of a good night's rest.

At about two in the morning, I heard shuffling of feet, and someone whispering my name. "What?" I responded, not even bothering to open my eyes. Not a moment more had passed, before I felt movement on my bed, and there was another body next to me. It was Ross.

"Can I sleep here?" He asked. I smiled warmly at him, though he couldn't see it in the dark, and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. This just happened sometimes. Ross just had his days where he couldn't stand being alone. Or maybe he'd had another nightmare. Or maybe he feels guilty about punching me in the face, and wanted to know if I was mad at him or not.

"Yeah. Of course." I responded, already feeling myself drifting back off, the comforting feeling of someone I loved right beside me.

**So, the ending felt creepy to me. Like, I thought it was super cute, but if you're an only child and don't know what brotherly/sisterly love feels like, you were probably all 'ew incest' but thats not the way I meant it. **

**I'm sorry this update took so long, and I'll try to have the next one up tomorrow, Saturday at the latest. Love ya! BYEEEEE!**


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